Gabby
by Quoting-Ravens
Summary: She is the begin all and end all, a God on earth, and there are people out there that will do anything to have her. A weak, abused and emotionally unstable Rin ran away from True Cross and vanished without a trace, now six years later, he has reappeared with new powers, a new attitude, and new friends as the bodygaurd to a force so powerful, even God himself ordered it destroyed.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

An abandoned table set for eight, an upturned pot of stew covering the kitchen floor, it was the finale straw, the last of many.

"Rin, are we really leaving?" Kuro sat, perched on a stack of manga atop Rin's desk, watching as his master frantically threw his meager belongings into a small suitcase. His back was to the small familiar, but Kuro could still tell from the way his shoulders shook that his master was crying. Desperate to at least keep some form of his cheery façade intact, Rin furiously scrubbed at his eyes before turning around to face his familiar with a bright smile, the effect was lost with his swollen eyes and tear streaked face.

'Ya Kuro, I've…I've had enough.' He probably slammed the lid of the suitcase harder than was necessary, Kuro jumped at the noise sending Rin another concerned look as he noticed the bruise on his master's cheek. Angry and red, it was the size of a human hand. Kuro's eyes narrowed in anger, Yukio had hit him again.

Grabbing his suitcase and plucking Kuro off the desk Rin hurried out of his shared room and rushed down the stairs hoping to get out of the dorms before Yukio and the other's got back. He closed his eyes as he ran by the kitchen, the ridicule and pain of that evening still fresh in his mind.

_Disgusting._

_Demon._

_Spawn of Satan._

_Just hurry up and die!_

The words from his so called friends and family still rattled about in his mind as Rin carefully closed the door behind him and took off in a slow jog towards the bus stop a few blocks from the school gates. He had to be carful about what he thought and said, especially around Kuro, but it wasn't freedom Rin was really after, no it was something far more sublime, in fact Yukio hadn't been that far off the mark. All Rin wanted out of life, all he ever wanted, was to die.

She didn't want to die.

It was the only thought that kept coursing through her mind as Livette leaned over her hospital bed in another fit of bone shaking coughs. Blood sprayed from her lips as she dry heaved into the bucket statically placed at her feet as pain racked her entire body. As the sound of her heart monitor began to soar Livette could just make out the rushed sounds of padded feet hurrying across the floor of the terminal wing towards her. Livette had to admit, she didn't know much, with only sixteen years under her belt, but she did know this much, she did not want to die, at least not like this

~Six Years Later~

"I'm bored, when are we going to get there!" Rin threw a half-annoyed glance into the rearview mirror at the young ginger haired child fastened behind him. Rin rolled his eyes as he pulled into a busy intersection, his gruff answer probably harsher than needed to be out of pure frustration, did anybody in this god forsaken city know how to drive?

'We'll get there, when we get there!' The backhand his shoulder received was probably harder than necessary as his dark haired partner sent him a fiery glare before shooting a warm smile over her shoulder at the girl.

"Not too much longer now, are you excited?" Livette laughed as the young girl nodded her head furiously, Rin shared a half-smile with his partner as they pulled up in front of the school, they could practically feel the energy bubbling off the girl in anticipation.

"Okay so here's the plan," Livette quickly unclicked her seatbelt before turning around to speak to the child, reaching out she gently began to help her out of her seat belt as well.

"I'm going to go talk to your group leader while Rin helps you unpack, kay?"

The child nodded, practically vibrating in her seat as she patiently waited for Rin to unlock the sedan's door so she could get out. Livette just laughed, getting out herself before heading into the school. Rin signed, looking back at the child who was staring back at him with a forced look of patients, he snorted.

"Okay princess, let's get you ready." Unlocking the doors Rin cringed as she squealed before racing to the back to grab her bag. Slowly getting out himself, Rin starred up at the school in sudden disgust, the plain Whitestone exterior, high fences and forested grounds, he got a flashback to old memories he had long since thought dead and buried.

He didn't want to be here, it was too risky, but he didn't have much of a choice having been summoned like some kind of common dog. Rin grit his teeth, sharped nails digging deep into the crevice of his arm, drawing blood, he hated being ordered around like an animal. A soft hand suddenly reached up, gently tugging on his sleeve, trying to grab his attention. Rin looked down sharply his glare melting as electric blue met a soft-forested green, as his young companion beamed up at him in encouragement.

'Your not a dog,' Rin signed and gently pulled the denim hat used to obscure her ginger locks over her face to hide her beaming eyes and grin.

"Thanks." It was barely a whisper spoken so low it was hard to believe anyone could hear it, but she did, she always did.

'Okay sweetheart everything's set, you ready to go,' Livette suddenly appeared behind them with a man dressed in an animal print apron. The man, who Rin assumed worked for the school, gave the little girl an encouraging smile before picking up her backpack.

"When are you coming back?" The question was muffled as the girl pressed her face into Livette's chest in a goodbye hug, the hug being returned ten-fold by the older brunette.

'Tonight around seven.' She nodded before stealing a quick hug from around Rin's leg and taking off towards the school far in front of her group leader.

Rin and Livette leaned up against the black sedan and waved goodbye to their young ward before she disappeared behind the heavy double doors. After a few moments of silence Livette sighed and stretched her back popping in protest.

"So now, I guess we better hurry up so we can get back to the Princess." Rin simply nodded before climbing behind the wheel, he waited patiently for his partner to strap in before quickly pulling out.

Livette watched, an amused smile on her face, as Rin constantly glanced back into the rearview mirror at the school. Grinning she placed her hand on her partner's knee and gave it a gentle squeeze, Rinn sent her a questioning look as he quickly pulled out onto the freeway.

"Relax Rin-chan, its daycare what could possible go wrong?"

Six hours and a bullet to the stomach later, Rin wanted it put on record, that he officially hated his partner.


	2. Chapter 1: Green Eyed Girl

Chapter One:

Green Eyed Girl

"You mind repeating that please?" Mephisto gave a dramatic sigh at the young man in front of him before handing a file over to Yukio with a flourish. Yukio sent the head of True Cross Academy a stern look as he began to flip through the sealed document.

'Congratulations Yukio you, and a team of your choosing, have been selected for an elite mission.' Yukio snorted tossing the documents back on the table, the pages flipped open to an attached snap shot, an eight year old girl, with ginger hair, hugging a patch rabbit, grinned up at them.

"I wouldn't exactly call baby-sitting a little girl an elite mission." Mephisto's shit-eating grin made an involuntary shiver run down Yukio's spin, he had no idea where this was going but he didn't like it one bit.

'But she's a very special little girl, her primary handlers after all are the Horsemen…you have heard of the Horsemen correct?' Yukio nodded, of course he had. The Horsemen were an elite team from the American Branch, a band of four Arc Knights, they answered directly to the Vatican.

"Anywho, her two primary handlers got into a little bit of a 'situation,' and HQ lost contact with them while in Brazil. So they needed a team to go down to America and secure the girl until the other Horseman could get back from Malian."

'Why us?' Yukio crossed his arms sending Mephisto a suspicious look, there must have been other teams in America that could have handled the girl, so why them?

"I volunteered you."

'Why?' The look Mephisto gave him next was calculating, carefully judging Yukio's reaction to his next bit of news.

"Satan seems to have taken a great interest in her. I haven't seen this much movement in Hell since, well, Rin.' Yukio gulped, his knuckles tightening around his arms until they turned white. Mephisto shrugged placing a gate key in front of him, the symbol the same logo worn by those of the American Branch.

'You said you where still interested in looking for Rin so I thought,' Mephisto gently tapped the picture of the grinning girl.

"Gabrielle Carter was a good place to start, you have twelve-hours to make a decision."

Yukio signed staring once again at the phone sitting on the desk before him, mocking him. Mephisto had left hours ago, leaving the key atop the documents of Gabrielle Carter. Yukio bashed his head into the desk in frustration, just when he finally began to accept that Rin would probably never come back, now this happens. Tiredly staring at his hand, Yukio made a fist. He could still feel it, even to this day, the feel of Rin's flesh against his hand, the shocked and pain filled expression that crossed his face before he shut it down falling back on his smiling mask. Yes, he had always known that the smiling Rin was nothing more than a façade, that his brother was never as cheerful and strong as he pretended to be, so why? Why did it take losing him to realize his biggest mistake? Yukio closed his eyes and leaned back resting his head on the back of the leather chairs listening to the soft patter of rain against the window pain. It had been raining back then too, a cold and rainy night for the day that Rin ran away.

Yukio had known that he was miserable, had watched as their friends began to pull away, and had just stood by and watched as the abuse was inflected. He had still blamed him back then for their father's death, he had thought Rin deserved it, it wouldn't be until year later that they realized just how much damage their words and actions had inflected on him.

They where supposed to have a training camp but the Vatican hadn't trusted Rin enough to let him leave campus, so they decided to host it in the abandoned dorms again. It had happened right after Rin's secret of being Satan's son had been revealed and he was being ostracized, the other's still too angry or scared to be really be around him. The training camp had been tiring both mentally and physically or everyone, and Rin, well Rin's head really wasn't in the game, and he kept making mistakes so Yukio had taken him aside. They got into another fight, yelling at the top of their lungs, things were said that should have never been uttered, and Yukio had slapped him. Rin had left, locking himself in the kitchen to cool off and Yukio had hoped that would be the end of it, but he was wrong. He hadn't been there for the second part but had heard enough to get the jest, Bon had picked the fight and it ended with the stew Rin had prepared for dinner all over the kitchen floor. The look on Rin's face in that moment, it was the closest to crying he had come since their father's funeral. Yukio should have ended it right then and there but instead he egged it on, he suggested that they eat out instead and left Rin alone, in a kitchen carefully set for eight with the meal he had so diligently prepared all over the floor. Bon's finale parting jab still lingered in the back of Yukio's mind even to this day,

'Disgusting!'

Rin or his prized cooking, the one thing he truly prided himself on? Yukio never had the chance to ask how his brother had taken it because by the time they finally came back Rin was gone.

Yukio signed pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and stared down at the picture with two smiling five year old boys grinning back at the camera. Back before they even knew what demons had been, back to when they had been a semi-happy family. They had spent weeks searching for Rin before the Vatican finally shut them down, and even though they still searched for him in secret Rin was slowly pushed to the back of their minds as school and their training took precedence. This was the best clue they had had in years, Yukio starred into the forest green eyes of Gabrielle Carter, if it meant finding Rin then he was willing to do anything. Yukio held his breath and pressed speed dial counting the rings until the other end was picked up, after a moment the sleep induced grumbling was silenced by three little words spoken by Yukio.

'It's about Rin.'

~Somewhere in Brazil~

Four laid pinned down somewhere on the canopy floor, the maniacal laughter of a demon not too far off from his hiding place, hunting them. With a bullet wound to his stomach and acid burns to his legs he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Well he sounds like a deranged bear on crack," Four sent a glare to his partner curled up at his side reloading her glock. Three returned his glare with a cheeky grin, sticking out her tongue in reply. The next five words Four spat at his partner before they prepared to split up were laced with poison.

"This is all your fault!"


	3. Chapter 2: The Demon Princess

Chapter Two:

The Demon Princess

Bon starred down at the picture of the young girl they were being sent out to retrieve.

"How exactly is she connected to Rin?" Yukio shrugged serving tea to all the gathered exorcists.

'I don't know but Mephisto seems to think there is one.'

"What do we actually know about her?" Shima suddenly asked drawing everyone's attention to Yukio who had the most time reviewing the files. He sighed, trying to fill them in to the best of his abilities.

'Gabrielle Carter, age eight. She was born on April 30th—'

"Walpurgis Night!" Shiemi gasped, the night of witches, Yukio merely nodded trekking on.

'Her birth parents are unknown, but shortly after her birth Gabrielle was placed under the custody of an elite unit designed for her protection, the Horseman.'

"Why does this child warrant such high levels of protection?" Izumo asked shifting through the files herself, most of it was blacked out.

"Classified," was Yukio's quick reply, he shrugged at the looks of surprise and outrage that crossed their faces. Apparently they weren't far enough up the totem pole to know why the child needed twenty-four hour protection, three hundred and sixty-five days of the year.

'Up until thirty-six hours ago Gabrielle was under the protection of the Horsemen's two most powerful members, Four and Three. Thirty hours ago HQ lost contact with the Arc Knights while on a job in Brazil and with new Intel circulating in about a coordinated attack against the child we have been asked to go to America and protect her until the Horsemen are able to reach her. Any questions?' There was dead silence for a moment before Shima's arm suddenly shot up with a serious look on his face. Yukio signed, how old was this man again?

"Yes Shima?"

'Just one question Boss.'

"Yes?"

'What's with the stupid names?' Smack! Yukio rolled his eyes as Bon smacked Shima upside the head causing Izumo to complain loudly about being surrounded by idiots, this was going to be a very long couple of days.

* * *

_There were always four of them at any given time and as soon as one perished another quickly rose to take their place amongst the ranks. The Horseman were supposed to be the best of the best, however, the missions they would undertake quickly whittled through their numbers, so in order to protect their own sanity and the sanity of their ward the Vatican created a new system. The Horsemen were no longer individual people with a complex past or human names and faces, but a small collection of four numbers and masks. Nameless and emotionless, it was meant to protect them. The mask was like a switch; it would shut down their emotions and pack away their hearts, this way they could never be hurt. It was a necessary evil, especially when over forty-five had both dawned and lost the masks, but it was far more than just a limiter, when they wore the mask, the Horsemen felt invincible. _

_One, Two, Three and Four, Conqueror, Pestilence, Famine and Death, these four were the ones tasked with protecting what the Vatican had dubbed a God on Earth, _

_Gabrielle Carter._

* * *

~Somewhere in Brazil~

"FOUR GET DOWN!" Four vaulted forward, grabbing his sword he felt the air off Three's bullets ghost over his back as she opened fired on the demon in front of them. Electric blue eyes glared out from behind the cobalt and white porcelain fox mask hiding his face from view, she had done that on purpose. The demon screamed in pain as the holy bullets lodged into his stomach and arms causing him to stumble back into the trap Three had lain while the moron had chased Four all over the flipping jungle. The trap went off catching the demon by the ankle and catapulting him up high into the trees before once again lowering him to eye level, upside down. The demon snarled at them trying to remove the silver chains slowly burning into his ankle.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you mate, the only way you're getting out of that is by gnawing your leg off." Three's voice held a bit of a sadistic glint to it as she approached her partner and the now naturalized demon. Her chocolate hair was a blood matted and tangled mess sticking out from behind her white and carmine cat mask like a lion's mane. Sometime during the night the demon had struck her in the face causing her mask to chip and crack and from what little Four could make out one of her own matching electric blue eyes was blackened and swollen shut.

The demon let out another ear-splitting howl trying to reach Three with his long taloned fingers. At one point the creature in front of them had probably been human, but now almost all of his pasty white skin had fallen off, replaced by blackened scales and horns, his eyes black pits of nothingness that resembled the depths of hell. Four sneered at the demon when his swipes got closer to Three than he would have liked. Three merely placed a hand on her partner's shoulder before quickly raising her leg high above her head and bringing it down hard between the demon's legs.

It screamed, tears pouring down its face.

"You Bitch!" Three shrugged grabbing the demon by its greasy white hair forcing it to look up at her.

'I find that people are far less menacing after getting kicked in the balls. Now,' Four cracked his knuckles from above the demon before withdrawing a blessed silver blade from the hidden sheath hidden on his belt.

"You will tell us everything, starting with how an underlying like you knew exactly where we were, yes?" the sounds of bone chilling screams engulfed the jungle for hours before suddenly being cut off around sunrise.

ooOoo

"Holy shit! What is this place?" Shima stared in awe with the others in front of the institution their new charge was being kept at. Izumo suddenly moved behind the man smacking him upside the head.

'It's a school you dumbass." Izumo pointed to where _True Cross's Institution of Higher Learning_ was neatly scrawled over the main entrance.

"This place is a school! It makes True Cross academy look like—Ow! Would you stop hitting me!" This time it was Bon giving a satisfied smirk as he started walking towards the school.

There were only two words in existence that could capture the true essence of Gabrielle Carter, and sweet angle were not two of them. Spoiled brat, tyrannical despot, demon spawn, take your pick and multiple by fifty, mix and match all you like but it still wouldn't do the brat justice.

Gabrielle—Gabby—as she had been quick to correct them had been nothing but a major pain in the ass since they had gotten her that morning. Their first clue should have been when the staff practically fell to their knees and kissed their feet in thanks, but no, they hadn't caught on until after the first five minuets locked alone in a moving vehicle with her, however by then it was too late to take her back. Yukio had had to separate Gabby and Izumo so they'd stop insulting each other and had to repeatedly remind Bon, that no, he could not murder said young girl.

They had only been together for less than an hour, but Shima had already come up with a title for the little tyrant.

At eight years old, standing a little less than 4'9 in height, and dressed in army green slacks and a dark orange t-shirt with daisies printed on the front, Gabby Carter was dubbed the Demon Princess.

Surprisingly, the brat's personality did a complete 180 when they left the American branch and arrived on the grounds of True Cross Academy.

"SHIEMI! The child's outburst had caused them all to jump as she tore across the grass-covered courtyard and plowed into the startled blonde giving her a tight hug. Izumo, Bon and Yukio shared a quick look as Shima quickly ran after her to pull the little demon of Shiemi's midriff.

How had she known Shiemi's name?


	4. Chapter 3: Three, Four

Chapter Three,

Three, Four

'She really is something isn't she?' Mephisto smiled at Yukio as they watched Shiemi and Shima play with Gabby in the courtyard from the safety of his office. Yukio merely nodded as he watched Shiemi gently braided the child's hair with daisies and Shima fend off her attacks with the stuffed patchwork rabbit that never left her side.

"Oh she's really something alright," Bon grumbled under his breath, Mephisto laughed as he looked over his shoulder at the dejected exorcists draped over his office. For some reason Gabby had only warmed up to Shiemi and Shima acting hostile towards everyone else, leaving Izumo, Bon, Koneko and Yukio to play silent sentinels from up high. Yukio sighed moving from the huge windows to gingerly sit on the corner of Mephisto's oaken desk, rubbing his tired eyes, he hadn't slept in days.

'I just hope that his time we're able to find him,' Yukio's eyes burned. It had been his fault, his fault that Rin disappeared. Bon suddenly kicked the chair in front of him gaining everyone's attention as he sent a glare towards Yukio.

"Stop it, it wasn't your fault!"

ooOoo

"I give, I give! I surrender to the Demon Princess!" Shima dramatically fell backwards pretending to have died from some horrible wound; Gabby giggled giving him a finale blow with her rabbit for good measure. Shiemi smiled down at the young girl in her lap as she added another daisy to the braided crown around her head.

'Are you having fun?' Gabby smiled up at her green eyes sparkling.

"Yah, Uncle Shima is almost as fun as Four!"

'Hey!' Shima shouted suddenly bolting up right.

"Who are you calling an Uncle!" Shiemi sent Shima a look as Gabby giggled, couldn't he go back to playing dead she was just starting to get somewhere.

'What do you usually do with, um Four…' Shiemi asked, the names confused her. Gabby was about to answer when Shima whined over her.

"What's with the stupid names, Gabby-chan what are their real names?" This time Shiemi really did kick him. Gabby just sent a mocking look towards Shima gently shaking her finger.

'Nope, that goes against the rules.' Gabby sent Shiemi an apoplectic look before continuing.

"Four likes to cook, although he doesn't have time to do that anymore, and Three likes to play guitar, she sings to me every night before I go to sleep." A lecherous smirk suddenly appeared across Shima's face.

'Three's a woman right, is she hot?" A dark look crossed Shiemi's face as she chucked one of her heavy herbalist textbooks at Shima's head.

'SHIMA!' Gabby laughed, tears rolling down her face at Shima's dumbfounded expression gently massaging the new lump on his forehead.

"Yah, Three is really pretty, but you don't stand a chance against Four." Shiemi looked down at the ginger haired child in surprise.

'They're married?' Gabby merely shrugged picking a few more daisies and handing them back to Shiemi.

'Something like that,' There was a moment of silence as Shima and Shiemi shared a look and Shima crawled over so he sat at eye level with the little girl.

"Gabby,"

'Yes, Uncle Shima?' He chose to ignore the 'uncle' bit for sanity sake. They needed to stop beating around the bush.

"Do you know someone named Rin?" Her eyes suddenly became sad as he nodded.

'How?'

"He used to visit me at the hospital. Rin was a mutual friend of both mine and Four's."

ooOoo

"You need to stop blaming yourself," Bon stood up placing a comforting hand on Yukio's shoulder; the guilt was slowly eating him alive.

'None of us noticed, it's not your fault that Rin ran way.'

"But it was your fault!" Everyone froze and turned their attention to the door were Gabby stood with an out of breathe and wide eyed Shima and Shiemi closing in behind her. She had over heard everything; Gabby shook her head; the braids Shiemi had made laced with daisies coming lose and falling about her face in waves.

'You were mean to Rin and that's why he ran away. You were so mean to him that you made him cry!' They all froze as varying degrees of regret and guilt crossed their faces. A sudden serious look settled on Gabby's face as she turned to Mephisto and for a moment she looked years wiser and older than her eight years, however the look quickly faded just as quickly as it had appeared and in it's place a mulish look took over Gabby's face and the Demon Princess was back.

"I want a new protection detail."

'Excuse me!' Bon suddenly shouted, Shima quickly pulling him back as Gabby sent them both a dry look.

"The only reason you volunteered in the first place was because you wanted to find Rin right, so this whole escapade was nothing but a waste of time for all of us involved."

'What do you mean?' It amazed Yukio, just how vast this girl's vocabulary was. Gabby's look was piercing, as were the next words that left her lips. Laced in poison and perfectly punctuated, she didn't bother to spare them by sugar coating the truth, no in fact, she seemed to get some kind of sick satisfaction form their reactions.

"Rin died, he killed himself along time ago." There was dead silence as the exorcists gathered in the room tried to process this latest bit of tragic information. A look of surprised flashed across Mephisto's face before he quickly suppressed it, an involuntary flick of the wrist had Izumo and Shima both covering their mouths in shock, Shiemi and Koneko looked on the verge of tears and Bon, turned a sickly shade of green. Yukio stood their in complete shock watching a Gabby's eyes bore into his and his alone, she blamed him he realized, out of all of them, Gabby blamed Yukio the most for Rin's death.

'There is no longer a reason for me to be here, take me back home,' She turned her fiery gaze back on Mephisto daring him to argue.

"Now just wait a minuet you stupid little brat!" Finally coming back to his senses Bon moved forward meaning to grab the little monster. How did they even know she was telling the truth, maybe she was just screwing with them? Ya, that had to be it, no matter how low he felt Rin would never kill himself, right? Bon reached for her and Gabby's eyes flashed, striking his hand away she took another step back towards the double windows of Mephisto's office clutching the patchwork rabbit even closer to her.

'Don't touch me!' Bon was taken back for a moment by how desperate she had become but quickly shook it off going for her again.

"Listen you little—"

'I said, DON'T TOUCH ME!' Gabby's eye's sparked, like green electricity for a brief moment before she clenched them tight and screamed, and that's when things got weird. It was like a gale storm suddenly hit the office originating from the screaming child in the corner by the windows. The windows and everything else glass in the office shattered and Bon, felt more than saw, invisible hands grab him and through him hard against the office wall stealing his breath and destroying the shelves. Then just as quickly the gale stopped and the lose papers fluttered around the room gently wafted back to the ground. Gabby opened her eyes laced with surprise and terror. Gabby clutched her stuffy closer to her and shook her head, slowly walking backwards towards the destroyed windows. She looked up at Mephisto with large and pleading tear filled eyes, she didn't want to be here any longer she wanted to go home.

"I want Three and Four," a sob escaped her lips and Yukio was already moving towards her before the other's even had time to react. He ran at Gabby at full speed but before he could even reach her the little girl spun on her heels and leapt out the window. Yukio tried to dive after her but Shima stopped him, they were four stories up the fall would kill her! Yet when they looked out, Gabby was gone.

'Well,' Mephisto's voice broke the small group out of their shock-induced trance as he assessed the damage of his demolished office covered in broken glass and wood with a raised eyebrow.

"I do hope you all plan on paying for this."

ooOoo

She could sense him, even though it had been six years since he was last here, she could still feel him, his presence still lingering throughout the campus like a light fog. Gabby wanted to be alone, she didn't like the exorcists that had been watching her, she wanted Three and Four back. She knew the others from the muddled and pain filled depths of Rin's mind and these memories had both scared and angered her, and in her anger she had done the one thing she promised Four she would never do, use her powers to hurt people. Four had made her promise, back when he first became a Horseman, to never reveal her powers in a public situation, he hadn't wanted her to suffer the same fate as Rin, isolated and hated for a power no one could ever understand. Gabby ran until she reached an old dormitory, falling apart and half rotted by age and time, but she still recognized it as the home from Rin's memories that he had before he ran away. The doors creaked open on rusted hinges and her small feet made footprints in the dust from where she walked, but the building was still very warm so she didn't really mind. Gabby may have never steeped foot in the old dormitory before but she knew it like the back of her hand from the stories Rin had told her and if her guess was right then this door should be…

The door slowly swung open revealing a small room with a single desk and bed, a thin layer of dust covering the nick-knacks lining the shelves and the forgotten books scattered across random surfaces. It was as if nothing had been moved or touched since Rin's disappearance six years ago. Undeterred by the dust clouds launched into the air from falling on the bed, Gabby crawled into a corner and drew her knees to her chest burring her burning eyes into her arms as she stifled another sob, she was scared and wanted to go home. Gabby wanted her mom and dad, she wanted Three and Four.

ooOoo

"What's wrong?" Startled by her question Four stopped digging the impromptu grave and watched as his partner tried to wash the blood from her skin using a rag and the water from the small stream they'd come across during the night.

'Nothing,' it had been a brief moment of pain, a tightening in his chest, a moment of over whelming fear. Four continued to dig; it wasn't anything to worry about, yet. Three snorted, she wasn't buying it.

"Was it Gabby?" Four merely nodded as he vaulted out of the grave, six-feet deep, nothing was finding this corpse.

'Did something happen to her?' Four shook his head; he recognized the raw panic coming out in Three's voice. They had been gone for over forty-eight hours now and had no way of contacting HQ or finding out about Gabby.

"She's not hurt, just upset. She probably pissed off her babysitter and they yelled at her." Three sighed, relief in her eyes, as long as Gabby was safe, that was all that really mattered.

'Now the real question is how our friend…' Three gave a vicious kick to the demon's corpse rolling him face down into the grave Four had just finished digging. Mutilated and bloated from heat and death the corpse stank of rot and decay, in death the demon had been expelled back to hell leaving in it's place the festering shell of a human corpse.

'Mr. Stinky here, was able to find us.' They regretfully hadn't gotten the demon to talk before killing it and they still had no idea who had set this trap in order to kill them. Four shrugged as he finished packing the stones and earth over the gravesite looking up as the sun slowly rose over the canopy to the east. They were a good four days from any populated area and another two from where their plane was stashed to take them back to America. Four sighed; pulling his gear back on he looked Three up and down taking in her gear, cavlar armour and the heavy leather and silver exorcist jacket tied around her waist. Three shivered under his scrutinizing gaze and folded her arms over her chest.

"What?"

'How much do you weigh?' she kicked something at him, a large rock from the riverbed, it flew by his head but Four didn't flinch staring her down. After a few moments of silence and a juvenile staring contest Three rolled her eyes giving in.

"A buck-fifty, its all muscle." Four nodded, doing the mental calculations in his head, add that onto his own weight and gear and it maybe possible.

'Come here,' Suspicious, Three approached her partner in measured steps and, after a jester from Four, turned so her back was resting against his chest. She snorted in frustration, the bastard was now a full head and a half taller than her, back when they first met four years ago he had been shorter than her, he had grown up without her noticing.

Strong arms suddenly wrapped around her midriff as Four leaned forward and whispered, the hot air hitting against Three's ear made her shiver.

"Hold on tight," the energy in the air shifted as Four's eyes went from electric blue to a glowing silver then suddenly stopped as two large ebony wings erupted from his back. Four kicked off the canopy floor and using his powerful wings carried them high above the treetops to where the plane had been stored.

'Three,' Four was the one to break the comfortable silence between them drawing his partner's attention away from the dazzling sunrise to their left.

'Hmm?' She looked back at Four not being able to read his expression from the fox mask obscuring his face but eyes sparked with amusement.

"In which universe do you weigh a buck-fifty?" Three let out a low snarl and moved to slap him not carrying that they where twenty feet above the canopy.

'SHUT UP!'


	5. Chapter 4: Shut the Last Door

Chapter Four,

Shut the Last Door

* * *

_Demon,_

_Monster,_

_Son of Satan,_

_Die!_

_Their words kept running through his head, and no matter how hard he tried, Rin couldn't make them go away. It was like an echo in the back of his mind doubting everything he did, judging everything he saw, he just wanted it to end. Most nights were sleepless or spent in a drug induced haze, it had been two years since he had arrived in America stowed away in a freight plane, and he had spent that entire time dedicated to the bottle and needle, but these nights, those restless and solitary nights were the worst. It gave him time to think, to reflect:_

_Like how that blade would feel cutting into his skin? _

_Like how long would it take him to bleed out?_

_And would any one miss him if he died?_

* * *

"Little girls shouldn't be out this late on a school night," Gabby slowly opened her eyes and stretched she must have fallen asleep waiting up for them again.

'Three!' It took Gabby an additional moment to realize that she was in a cold, musty and moldy room somewhere in Japan and not in her warm, snug bed back in their Brownstone in Lancaster, and the loud red haired woman leaning over her in a skimpy top was most defiantly not Three. Gabby leapt back towards the far corner trying to use her patchwork rabbit as a makeshift shield.

'Whoa baby, take a deep breath, nobody's going to hurt you.' She had a thick accent that drew out the vowels of each word, she sounded a lot like Two. It took Gabby another moment to fully realize just who was sitting in front of her.

"You're Shura, right? Shura smiled down at the little girl, as she seemed to calm down.

'That's right, so that means that you must be Gabby, who's your friend?' Shura gently tapped the stuffed rabbits nose electing a huge smile to light up Gabby's face; nobody ever asked her that.

"Patch. Rin gave him to me, it's his job to protect me when the Horsemen aren't there." Shura nodded solemnly, gently shaking the stuffed rabbit's paw.

'It's nice to meet you Patch, so then you know Rin, Gabby?' Gabby nodded, settling back with a yawn, she was so tired.

"He used to play with me, back at the hospital, he got me Patch so I wouldn't be lonely anymore. He's gone you know," Gabby looked up at Shura with tired, red eyes and Shura signed gently rubbing the little girl's back as she drifted off to sleep.

'He died along time ago. Four said he died so me and Livy could live…' Shura raised an eyebrow at the last part as Gabby slowly drifted back off to sleep.

* * *

'_Why didn't you leave a note?' Rin lifted his head from the white pillow that reeked of antiseptics; she was back again, the ginger haired monster that liked to stalk him in the middle of the night._

"_Go away," He tried to roll over, before remembering that his hands and wrists were still bound to the bed with silver cuffs. He angrily rolled his eyes, stupid overreacting…_

'_One told me it's common for suicide victims to leave a note, so why didn't you?' Rin tried to send her his best glare, but it was lacking heat, stupid horse-tranq medication._

"_Leave me alone kid," Who in the hell was he supposed to leave a note too?_

'_Oh,' the little girl's face suddenly took on a very wise and world-weary look as she gazed up at the half-demon strapped to the bed in front of her. Rin just couldn't get over how wrong that looked on the little girl's normally smiling face._

'_It's okay, nobody cares if I live or die either.'_

* * *

The scaredy-cat-four-eyes had called Shura a few hours ago to help in the search for Gabby following her Houdini act, she had been surprised when Yukio had reveled that Gabby had some connection to Rin, how in the hell did he discovery that?

Gently picking up the young girl Shura made her way out of the abandoned dorms back towards Mephisto's office that had been made ground zero for the 'Retrieve Gabby Operation' following her disappearance. Looking down at the sleeping child Shura smiled, Rin had done a good job these last couple of years, and she'd be damned if the other's even thought of messing this up. It was Shura's greatest secret, one that needed to be protected from both Mephisto and Yukio's knowledge, that six years ago she had helped Rin escape to America.

* * *

'_Here that's for you, sorry I cut myself while making it?' The little girl stared up at the man she had self-appointed as her big brother with a big surprised smile as Rin placed a hand stitched patchwork rabbit in her lap she hardly noticed the small bloodstained ear at all. Rin sighed as the child squealed kicking her legs back and forth in delight; he had given up trying to get rid of her. _

"_Did you make this for me?" Rin simply nodded at her question, they said he was getting better, so under supervision they had let him use a needle and thread to work on a project. It was supposed to help him get better in fact, Rin carefully hide the extra needle under his pillow, they had no idea how right they were._

'_It's so that you'll always have someone to protect you.' A look of confusion crossed the young girl's face as she stared up at Rin._

"_Why, are you going somewhere Rin?'_

* * *

"Excuse me! Do you mind running that by me again!" It was never a good sign when she started sputtering. No matter how dire or arduous the situation was Livette was the one with a cool and even head, she wasn't supposed to get aggressive that was his job.

Fists clenched and wide-eyed Livette stared down the secretary with a mixture of shock and rage, bringing her hand down on the counter she began to yell drawing every eye in the institution towards them.

'What do you mean you have no idea where she is?' Rin placed a calming hand on his partner's shoulder and sighed looks like he'd have to pay negotiator this time.

People were outright staring now, not that he really blamed them, they must have had made one hell of a sight, sweaty, bloodstained and not having slept in over three days had left both Horsemen looking disheveled and, well, homeless.

Rin quickly took over nudging Livette aside; he let her seethe in silence as he sent a charming half-smile towards the flustered woman.

"You can understand her frustration, Valery," a quick glance at her nametag pined on the front of her checkered blouse and another smile had the secretary blushing. Livette rolled her eyes and crossed her freshly bandaged arms mouthing a single word at her partner.

_Sex God._

Rin quickly kicked her, the smile plastered on his face not even losing an ounce of charm as he pressed on.

'This is supposed to be a secure institution so how could Miss Carter simply vanish?" It was true, while it may look like a normal school; _True Cross's Institute of Higher Learning _was actually a secure facility full of exorcists and scientists. Valery quickly typed something into her computer before turning back to Rin with a flirtatious grin, Livette growled.

'I never said she vanished. A second team came to retrieve her twenty-four hours ago.' Rin frowned as the woman scribbled something on a sheet of paper and handed it to him. Livette intercepted at the last minuet snatching the paper from her partner's grasp, sending a dirty look towards the woman.

"Under whose authority?" Valery sent Livette an equally dark glare.

'Bishop Loveday,' Rin and Livette quickly sent each other a surprised look before leaving, why would the Bishop in charge of the Horsemen move their ward without telling them?

* * *

'_He's my friend Livy,' the little girl whined as she hung off the arm of the young woman she had officially adopted as her older sister. Livette had been in the hospital longer than even the child herself, suffering from a degenerative disease. _

"_I just don't trust people that take life lightly," Livette, grumbled gently removing the four-year-old leech from her arm, she was getting too heavy for this._

'_It's not that he doesn't want to live, he just find living to painful,' _

"_At least he has the chance to live." It was grumbled under her breath, but the girl still heard it sending Livette a sad smile. She knew Livette wanted to live no mater what, dying scared her._

_I DON'T WANT TO DIE! _

'_Rin?' The little girl looked up in confusion as the alarms suddenly went off throughout the hospital. A shocked look crossed Livette's face._

"_That's the emergency code for the Psych Ward," suddenly Livette began to cough, huge heaving coughs that had her doubled over clutching her heart and spitting blood. A sudden calm came over the young girl as the sound of her friends dying gasps and the emergency alarm covered her in a dense fog. Moving in a trans the ginger haired girl reached out to Livette's face and gently swiped some of the blood from her lips before placing a thumbprint onto her patchwork rabbit's ear. Closing her eyes she put all of her strength, thought and feeling into a single word._

_LIVE!_

* * *

"You were enjoying that way too much, I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much out of a mission setting." Livette complained pulling the seat belt firmly across her body. Rin shrugged before quickly pulling out.

'Sometimes diplomacy is the best course of action, now where is the Princess?' Livette glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper for a moment. Rin sent her a concerned look as he watched an odd emotion cross Livette's face.

'Liv?' without a word Livette reached up and gently tugged the mask situated atop her head across her face, blue eyes glittering behind the white and carmine porcelain face of Three. Rin grew even more concerned as she gently reached over and tugged down Four's own black and cobalt fox mask.

"Three?" Four asked again sending his partner a worried look. In reply Three simply held out the small piece of paper with four damning word scrawled across it.

_Japan,_

_True Cross Academy._

Four growled snatching the paper and throwing it out the window in anger, stepping hard on the gas they hurried towards the American Branch. Livette sighed gently messaging her temples. This was not going to end well.

* * *

_He was expecting to feel the harsh fires of hell, not a cooling breeze. Was he in heaven? No that was impossible; this pain only came with living. They must have saved him again._

"_Ah welcome back sleeping beauty," Rin cracked open a single electric blue eye coming face to with a black and white porcelain owl mask. Rin suddenly leapt up and away from the man in shock; maybe we weren't quite awake yet. _

'_That was a pretty desperate act boy-o trying to gouge out your curadtive with a sewing needle," Rin growled at the nickname, he was an eighteen year old man, not a child. The fact that a spitting half-demon was staring daggers at him had no real effect on the man who simply sat next to the bed and made a gesture for Rin to sit back down._

"_Sit down boy-o your going to wake your partner up," Partner? Confused Rin looked to his right finding the unconscious body of a young woman with long unruly chocolate brown hair asleep beside him._

'_You know for a kid so desperate to die you really clung onto life, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to save you.' The man nodded to the figure asleep with her head on the foot of their head, the little ginger haired girl._

"_For better or for worse the three of you are now bound together, it's now your job to protect Gabby." The man unceremonially dropped a black and cobalt fox mask in Rin's lap. Rin fingered the mask for a moment before sending a confused look up to the man he'd later know as One._

'_Welcome to the Horsemen.'_


	6. Chapter 5: Iron Skies

Yukio sighed in frustration as he stared down at the large map in front of him of _True Cross, _crude and hastily made red Xs checkered the crumpled paper, just where in the hell could she be?

It had almost been an hour since Gabby's little disappearing act and they still couldn't locate her. The sound of garble over the two-way intercom drowned out Yukio's thoughts as the exorcist starred down at the map, how could she just disappear without a trace.

"Yukio, I think you should see this," Koneko's voice shook Yukio out of his thoughts as he tuned back to the only member of his team not currently searching for their AWOL ward. Over the last six years Koneko had become a fairly apt hacker and he was currently putting those skills to use hacking the main servers for information on Gabby Carter and her Horsemen. After what happened this afternoon, they planed on knowing what exactly they were up against.

Yukio skimmed over the smaller monks shoulder pointing at the only section that stood out like a lighthouse:

**…A God on Earth, with the power to create miracles and extinguish evil...**

Yukio and Koneko shared a look; just what kind of 'miracles' were they referring to? Yukio sighed and massaged his temples; this wasn't getting them anywhere?

'Is there anything else you want me to look up?' Koneko asked with a quick glance over his shoulder. Yukio thought for a moment before slowly making his way back to the desk.

"What did Shima say about Gabby and Rin?" Koneko paused for a moment before typing something else into the search engine.

'He said Gabby and Four first met Rin at a hospital,' Yukio nodded thinking hard.

'Cross-reference the Horsemen against American based hospitals with patients matching Rin's description and blood type against suicides,' Yukio shivered placing the headphones back around his neck.

"Who knows maybe we'll get lucky."

'Yo! Scaredy-Cat-Four-Eyes!' Yukio flinched, turning down the volume as Shura's voice came over the frequency.

"What do you want Shura?" It has been a long time since he has last seen or heard from the older woman, not since Rin's disappearance. Yukio has left a message on her machine about Gabby but he hadn't expected her to get back to him, she never had before.

'Just calling to see how you're doing, losing an important asset of the church, you've got some balls Four-Eyes!' More like seeing if she could annoy him, Yukio signed, six years had done little to mature the boozehound of woman.

'Shura get off this is a secure frequency!' He didn't have time for this.

"Na-uh-uh," Yukio could practically hear her shit eating the grin through the static.

'Even if I know where the little princess is?'

~Milan, North Italy~

The sky was a beautiful azure blue, not a single cloud to be spotted on the horizon, and the grey mountains stretching up like towers reached up like hands trying to grasp onto the heavens. Milan was beautiful this time of year, but this beauty was lost on the two dying men inside the abandoned church of St. Croix.

An exorcist, wearing the insignia of an archknight sewn onto his heavy silver and leather uniform and the plain white phantom mask of a Horsemen, used the thin wires attached to his amour and heavy gloves to swing from the rafters and ram into the back of the monster in front of him.

Two landed lightly on his feet and watched as the monster ran head long into the holy lances protruding from the church's wall, old, run down and crumpling the entire building shook from the impact, the hole in the ceiling revealing the clear afternoon sky becoming larger. Two quickly disconnected the wires from his gear running towards the unconscious man previously getting the life crushed out of him by the monster moments before.

Standing at ten feet in height and weighing over five hundred pounds, Two had never seen anything like it before, the beast looking like across between a possessed human and a titian from old Nordic legends.

"One," Two knelt beside his partner, One's black and white owl mask lay shattered on either side of his head revealing a bloodstained face and a mess of close-cropped silver hair. Two shock his partner's shoulder, had he always looked so old?

'Gabby…' One's pale blue eyes shut open as he grabbed the boy's shoulder, his eyes burning into Twos darker ones as he suddenly fell back coughing up blood.

"Need…to…get…back…to…her…" Leave me behind. Each of his words was labored and heavy, even the unspoken ones between them. Two shook his head angrily; he wasn't leaving him here to die, not like this.

'What a noble sentiment,' Two screamed as a sword suddenly came down on One's throat, blood spraying out everywhere, covering the kneeling Horsemen in his partner's blood. One's murderer reached out grabbing the Two by his mop of unruly blond hair; he forced the boy to his feet. Over the man's shoulder Two could just make out the monster as it untangled itself from the pikes it had previously impaled itself on, it's injuries diapering in a cloud of steam. It must have been the gold plate fused to its chest, that was what made the creature immortal.

"They're really something aren't they? Right now we can only create one but with the right power source, anything is possible." Two's eyes widened in shock, they hadn't been able been able to stop one, how were they supposed stop an army? The man laughed pulling his sword from One's body and gently placed the blade against Two's chest. Two couldn't see the man's face but he did recognize the robes. White cloth and gold piping, two swords and a rose embroidered across the front, this bastard could only belong to one person.

'Don't worry Horsemen we'll take good care of Gabrielle.'

"So," Two whispered as the man thrust his sword into his chest.

'You did betray us.'

The sky was beautiful.

So much better than the view from a prison cell, at least, that's what Two thought as he lay drowning in a sea of blood just outside the city of Milan.

ooOooOoo

"Where in the hell have you been?" Shura frowned at Yukio, as Gabby hide behind her leg, so she had made a detour with the little princess what was the big deal?

'We stopped to get art supplies, you are so paranoid,' Shura shook the plastic bag full of paint, brushes and paper for emphasis, as she gently maneuvered Gabby through the crowd of gathered exorcists. It had been an hour since she last called in and since then everyone had gathered in Mephisto's office. Shura frowned as Gabby stared down at her shoes refusing to make eye contact with anyone, instead obediently sitting at the desk as Shura set up the paint and paper for her.

It was like that for a few minuets; a horrible awkward silence as Gabby stared blankly down at the paper in front of her and the others in the room exchanged confused looks not quite knowing what to do, as Shura glared at them trying to figure out what exactly happened to cause Gabby to shut down.

Bon sighed leaning back in his chair by the door, slowly rotating his neck side to side. His back and neck still hurt like hell from his close encounter with Mephisto's office walls.

"Dose it still hurt?" Bon's eyes suddenly flew open at the sound of Gabby's voice in front of him, how did she get over here so fast she had just been sitting across the room. Bon starred down at the little girl with wide before clearing his throat, from the shocked looks on everyone else's faces they didn't know either.

'No, not really.' It was a lie, the bones in his back and neck ached like a pulsing wound. Bon forced a half smile on his face, not wanting to make the kid worry. A serious look crossed Gabby's face when she caught sight of the dark bruises peaking up from under his shirt. Gently reaching out her fingers ghosted along the color pulling it back, her eyes got a heavy look as she took in the dark blue and black state of his back.

"I'm sorry," Gabby suddenly released him; her head ducking down so ginger bangs obscured her face. Bon sighed ruffling her head affectingly; she really was a sweet kid.

'It's okay kid, just don't do it again.' Gabby looked up with a small smile at Bon's smiling face before reaching out to gently rub his back.

'Pain, Pain, fly away!' Bon raised an eyebrow at the young girl in question; Gabby just flashed her million-dollar-smile back at the older man before clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Four taught me that, he said it's a magic spell that makes wounds go away!" Bon nodded before looking up, he suddenly turned a dark shade of red, at everyone's wide-eyed and opened mouth stares. Damn he had been so preoccupied with the girl that he had forgotten about the others. Bon gruffly spun the young girl around giving a firm push in the direction of her art supplies.

'Thanks now go back to painting,' Gabby laughed running in the direction of her paints. Bon suddenly froze, the movement hadn't pained him in fact, he almost felt rejuvenated. Bon carefully readjusted his neck checking for pain and frowned, was it weird that the ache in his bones had suddenly vanished?


	7. Chapter 6: The Bunny Girl Kerfuffle

'Did you find anything yet,' Yukio and the other's had to whisper, they were in the smaller half of Mephisto's office that was connected to the main room via an open door. Gabby was right next-door painting, and Shura was passed out on the only couch, empty beer cans crushed around her feet, but Yukio wasn't taking any chances, both women had a tendency of just randomly appearing.

"250 possibilities," Koneko sighed handing the list over to Yukio, surprisingly the parameters of: blood type B, Japanese males between the ages of 15-22, with suicidal tendencies were fairly common in America. Yukio sighed pinching the bridge of his nose as he read through some of the sheets, any number of these could be Rin. Shima suddenly perked up shuffling through lose papers on their shared desk.

'Would it help if you had the name of Gabby's Hospital?' Both Yukio and Koneko froze as Shima let out a triumphant cry finding the paper he had been searching for. During the other's search for Gabby, Shima had gone back to the American Branch and had managed to swipe some hard copies of the girl's files.

"St. Ophelia's Private Hospital, Lancaster Maine." Koneko quickly grabbed the document as he typed the new information into the search engine.

'Shima…'

"What?" Shima shivered at the evil glare Yukio was sending him.

'How long were you sitting on that little bombshell for,' Shima suddenly paled, cowering behind the chair Bon currently rested in as Yukio suddenly drew his gun.

"I'm so sorry boss please forgive me!"

'Oh my God.' Everyone froze at the sound of Koneko's voice and turned to face the monk staring wide eyed at the computer screen. Yukio came over placing a gentle hand on the man's shoulder.

"How many?"

'Just one. Erin Howell,'

"Found it." Everyone froze as Izumo skimmed through one of the pages Koneko had previously printed out.

'Erin Howell, currently 22, he's married to a woman named Livette Howell and they live above a converted Brownstone in Lancaster's Latin Quarter. He's been the owner and head chef of a small restaurant called Hell's Kitchen for the last two years.'

"What's his connection to the kid?" Bon suddenly asked leaning forward to get a better look at the file over Izumo's shoulder. Said woman sent a glare over her shoulder at the man before continuing.

'Four years ago Howell was committed to St. Ophelia's and placed in extended psychiatric care for suicidal tendencies, and here's the kicker,' Izumo suddenly looked up making eye contact with Yukio.

"The ward for extended psychiatric patients was kept on the fifth floor, the same as the Terminal and Residential Wings, the same floor where Gabby spent her first four years. Before that everything concerning Erin Howell is a blank." Izumo set down the folder and Yukio sat down heavily picking up the photo attached to the Erin Howell folder. Tousled black hair drawn back into a lose ponytail, hard blue eyes and a sharp nose with soft rounded features, there was a slight trace of a black tattoo peaking out from the collar of his open dress shirt. Erin Howell, the similarities where almost earth crushing, could he be Rin?

'Let it go Four-Eyes,' Shura's suddenly snatched the photo from Yukio's grasp tearing it into little pieces before throwing the confetti in the air around them. Yukio jumped up in shock, what the hell was she playing at? Shura suddenly grabbed Yukio by his lapels drawing him close so they stood nose to nose.

"Listen to me you little shit! You have no idea just what you're messing with, LET IT THE HELL GO!"

'Shura?' Everyone froze and Shura quickly realized Yukio taking a few steps back as Gabby suddenly appeared in the doorway.

'What's going on?' Shura took quick measured steps towards the child squatting down so they were at eye level.

"Nothing, what's behind your back Princess?" Gabby gave a cheeky grin shifting her body so Shura couldn't see behind her back.

'A present.' Shura smiled.

'For me?' Gabby shook her head, her smile getting bigger as she revealed a scroll tied with a ribbon with a flourish.

"It's for all of you, so now you and Yukio don't have to fight over the picture!" Shura unrolled the painting as the others moved over to look at Gabby's masterpiece with interest. Well she was defiantly no Picasso; Gabby had done a good job for a six year old. The painting was simple with floating faces on the white parchment with flowers, labels and other symbols scattered about. Shura choked down a chuckle as she read the captions beside the other exorcist's faces: Neko, Uncle, Eyebrows, Roaster, Four-Eyes, Clown and Shiemi. The others gave varying degrees of annoyed signs as they looked at Gabby's painting, however what caught Shura's attention were the floating faces at the corner of the page, away from the group of six exorcists and headmaster.

'Gabby who's that?' Gabby looked at the painting Shura was pointing at; it appeared to be a blue and black fox mask with food floating about the head.

"Oh, that's Four making dinner and this ones," Gabby pointed to the next head shaped like a carmine and black cat mask with music notes surrounding the head.

'Three singing show tunes, Four hates when she does that.' Shura nodded giving the girl an encouraging smile as she pointed to a black and white owl mask.

"And this one?"

'That's One, he's the boss and this is,' Gabby pointed to the last mask, a plain white phantom mask with soccer balls around the head.

'Two, he has a funny accent like you.' Shura rubbed the child's head affectingly.

"Who are these last three?"

"Me, Patch and you, silly." Shura frowned as she starred at the last head Gabby had pointed at.

'Gabby am I the one with bunny ears?' Gabby sent Shura a confused look.

"But uncle Shima said it's a custom in Japan for woman to wear bunny ears, he even showed me a picture of Eyebrows with bunny ears and a tail." Shima paled, as both Shura and Izumo turned different shades of red their murderous glares focused on him.

'SHIMAAAA!' Both women vaulted off the couch after said man tearing toward the office door at full speed. Gabby watched in utter confusion as the others stood in shock trying to process the image of Izumo dressed as a bunny girl.

OooOooO

It was still raining, the streets were flooded in black; not all of it water. Silas Loveday sat in the back of a waiting sedan impatiently staring down at his phone, they where late. The lights from the neon signs littering the street cast twisting shadows across the road, making the already dark cityscape even more morbid.

Silas Loveday closed his eyes, _could he really go through with this?_

An image of Gabby's smiling face flashed though his mind.

_Yes, he could._

His phone rang and Silas quickly answered.

_If it was for Gabby then he could do anything._

'Everything is in place sir, we can start the operation whenever you're ready.'

_If it was for Gabby then he could do anything._

"Alright, lets begin."

Quickly stepping out of the sedan Silas firmly tied the white phantom mask of Two across his face making his way towards the doors of True Cross Academy.

_If it was for Gabby then he could do anything. _

He had murdered his mentor and a young boy, betrayed his best friend and now planned to destroy the very institution that raised him.

_If it was for Gabby then he could do anything _

_He just had to keep telling himself that, _

_And believe it. _


	8. Chapter 7: Judas

The sounds of attempts against Shima's life suddenly quieted as Gabby leapt up her wide eyes glued to the window trying to peer through the heavy raindrops.

"TWO!" Gabby took off before anyone else could stop her quickly running through the academy and into the courtyard launching herself at the half waterlogged man dressed in a thick exorcist jacket and white phantom mask. Two easily caught the young girl spinning her about in a large circle, the other's watch as Gabby gave off a high pitched squeal.

'How've you been kiddo?' Gabby giggled hugging the man in front of her tightly as Two opened his jacket a little bit for her protecting her from the rain. Well Four was like the father Gabby never had, Two had always been like her protective older brother, well, this one anyway.

"How was Milan?" The question was whispered into Two's shirt as Yukio, Shura and the others made their way over in the pouring rain.

'Warm, now give me a second so I can deal with these guy's kay? Gabby simply nodded as Two turned his attention to the other gathered exorcists.

"Thanks for taking such good care of the little princess, but it's about time to get going." Shura gave Two an odd stare as she noticed Gabby falling asleep in his arms, odd she had been so full of energy moments before.

'It's the middle of the night and she's starting to fall asleep do you really have to go now?' Shiemi asked, her voice laced with concern. Two gave a nod the sound of smile carried on his voice.

"Four and Three will have a fit if she's not home by the time they get back tomorrow." With another nod the Horseman gathered the sleeping child in his arms and walked towards the loitering sedan at the edge of the courtyard.

'Are you sure about this?' Bon gently laid a hand on Yukio's shoulder.

"She's the only clue we have to Rin's whereabouts." Yukio shrugged off Bon's hand.

'It's fine, you heard her before she wanted to go home and besides it's not like we don't know where she lives.' The others turned back to head in from the rain but froze as they watched Shura stare off after the sedan as it slowly made it's way towards the gates.

"Shura?" Yukio called after her but Shura still stood rooted in place.

'Hey Yukio,' Her voice suddenly took on an eerie calm.

"Ya,"

'What other accent sounds similar to mine?' It was Shima who answered first not understanding what Shura meant.

"I'd say Irish, why?" Shura suddenly spoke her incantation, hand over chest grasping her sword as it emerged from within her and ran towards the sedan as the other's called after her in panic.

_And this is Two, he has the same accent as you Shura._

That bastard's accent had been British, they had handed Gabby off to the wrong handler!

Suddenly the panicked screams of a six-year-old filtered out the sedan window as the vehicle ran head long into an oncoming truck.

~American Branch, New York~

'How long does that bastard plan on making us wait?' Rin angrily kicked the chair he had been previously sitting on in Bishop Loveday's sitting room. They had been there for over five hours now and the confidential meeting Loveday was attending with his followers still hadn't ended, somewhere around the halfway mark Rin had started pacing driving the secretary nuts. Said secretary gave Rin a pointed look at the damaged furniture his meaning clear, SIT THE FUCK DOWN.

Rin growled sitting down heavily beside Livette on the only couch, the secretary was only an Upper First Class, he could easily turn him into mincemeat but he didn't want to get kicked out at least not yet.

"Maybe we're just over reacting I'm sure Gabby's already been picked up by Felix or Grant," Rin sighed leaning against his partners shoulder, here in HQ there was no such thing as the Horsemen, here they were just Erin and Livette Howell the guardians of Gabby Cater and they were really feeling the heat from said situation.

'What I want to know is why in the hell Loveday thought it would be a good idea to send her to Japan!' Livette shrugged gently prodding Rin with her foot, as she watched his eyes close in sleep.

"Hey Rin,"

'What?'

"Check your phone, maybe Felix sent us an update." Rin nodded fishing out his cell, they had to shut it off upon entering the Branch but a quick look—

'EXCUSE ME,' Well fuck, Rin sent a look at Livette as the secretary made to take the phone away. He didn't do men; Livette was going to have to take one for the team.

"I couldn't help but notice your unique choice in weapons," Livette suddenly started talking in a sultry voice moving towards the dual swords tact onto the wall behind the secretaries desk. Both Rin and the fool paused, watching as Livette ran a gentle finger down the sheath giving a coy smile over her shoulder at the secretary. Rin rolled his eyes as the secretary ran over to Livette's side, when she was in full out Venus mode there was no stopping her she'd keep him distracted for awhile.

Flipping over his phone Rin grinned down at the only message left in the last few hours labeled,_ Two. _Maybe Livette was right for once, Gabby was probably already with Felix and Grant back in Lancaster. Rin's grin quickly disappeared his eyes turning dark as he looked at the picture Two had sent them.

'Liv,' it was the way he said her name filled with pain and anguish that caught her attention.

"Rin?" confused Liv tuned out the gushing secretary giving her partner her undivided attention.

'Go get Silas,' She didn't ask any questions, just ghosted by the protesting secretary and burst into the meeting room only to find it empty, they had been tricked.

"I know why he moved her to Japan." Livette turned around it time to watch Four bash the secretary on top of the head with his spare sword knocking him out cold, the fox mask placed firmly in front of his face. Following his led Livette also pulled on her cat mask easily catching the phone Four tossed her way.

'It was for easier access.' Three clenched her eyes closed as she glanced down at the blurry picture of the bloodstained back of a man wearing gold piped white robes, the dismembered body of One scattered about his feet. The embroidered insignia of the sword and rose of Bishop Loveday glaring up at them, so he had been the one to betray them.

Their enemy was Bishop Silvanus Loveday.

ooOooOoo

'Did it work? ' Silas nodded at his driver gently laying Gabby on the seat beside him taking off the white phantom mask of number Two, the sleeping gas aced with his clothes seemed to have knocked her out and it would still be hours before Erin and Livette put two and two together.

"The others had no idea," Looking down at the sleeping child Silas affectionately rubbed her head, he would do anything to protect her, after all she was his goddess. Gabby suddenly stirred in her sleep her eyes flying open as she let out an ear splitting scream. Silas saw it before the driver did, his eyes focused on the screaming child and not the road, the truck racing straight towards them. Silas didn't even think, he just acted, grabbing Gabby and launching himself towards the door with a premade destination just for situations like this, slamming it closed tightly behind them. By the time the two vehicles collided turning into a twisted mess of steal and fire Silas and Gabby were already safe at a mountain villa somewhere in Canada.


End file.
